Davis faces contempt on Brexit papers

COMMONS Speaker John Bercow has threatened to hold Brexit Secretary David Davis in contempt of the House for not releasing Government papers which could “endanger” the interests of the country if made public.

The row broke out after the Exiting The EU Committee, chaired by leading Labour Remain MP Hilary Benn, was only given an edited version of the Brexit impact papers in an 850-page dossier.

The committee forced ministers to answer an Urgent Question on the issue where Mr Bercow suggested that he could consider contempt accusations. The Government was forced to publish after it did not contest a vote on an unusual parliamentary procedure.

But Mr Bercow said the Urgent Question was not the time to debate whether a contempt of the House had occurred, adding: “There may or may not be later occasions for that matter to be discussed.”

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “Whether he is in contempt of Parliament is a matter we will come to at a later date, but he is certainly treating Parliament with contempt.” However, Downing Street backed Mr Davis.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesman said: “We believe that we have complied with the terms of the motion.

“We have collated around 800 pages of documents which we believe meets the request.”

Mr Benn said the select committee should have been given all the information requested and it was up to the cross-party group what was subsequently published.

Tory backbencher Tom Pursglove said MPs should knuckle down and not play political games.